Marcus Noland discussed the economic situation in the Middle East and presented his findings from his coauthored book The Arab Economies in a Changing World at a meeting held at the InfoShop at the World Bank on November 12, 2007.

Authors Marcus Noland and Howard Pack argue in their book The Arab Economies in a Changing World that the principal challenge facing the Middle East, defined as stretching from Morocco to Iraq, over the next decade or two is job creation. The demographics of the region are such that labor force growth is on the order of 3.5 percent a year. This growth does not include increases in female labor force participation, which in fact has also been rising. Given plausible assumptions about productivity and deepening investment capital, the authors calculate that the region as a whole will have to grow at a steady rate of 5.5–6.0 percent a year over the next decade or so to create the jobs necessary to absorb this significant labor increase.